What’s the connection between Daniel Passarella and Islahuddin Siddiqui, other than the fact that they both were World Cup-winning captains, leading Argentina and Pakistan, respectively, to glory in the same year, in the same country?
What has the 1978 Pakistan hockey team got to do with the then-Argentina coach Cesar Luis Menotti?
Yes. There is a connection between Argentina’s football team and the Pakistan hockey team. With Menotti’s passing away on Sunday, those interesting stories flooded former Pakistan captain Islahuddin Siddiqui’s memory.
Cesar Menotti, Argentina's 1978 Football World Cup-winning coach Getty Images
Months before Argentina won the 1978 World Cup in their den, the country was hosting the Hockey World Cup. Those were the days when India, who travelled to Buenos Aires as the defending champions, and Pakistan were bossing over their European rivals like Germany and the Netherlands.
Hockey was still about silken skills. Not about the present day’s brute power and supreme fitness.
Pakistan, despite having an array of talented players, were somehow seen as underperformers.
After the 1971 World Cup triumph, they had not won much. But the 1978 team was of a different breed, playing together for six years. With Islahuddin as captain, and the likes of Samiullah Khan, goalkeeper Saleem Sherwani, Manzoor Hussain and Akhtar Rasool in the ranks, Pakistan looked like a champion outfit.
In Buenos Aires, their training sessions and practice matches caught the imagination of the Argentine media and even before the tournament started, they were already labelled champions.
The hype did not go unnoticed with the charismatic chain-smoking football coach Menotti. He was under pressure to win the troubled nation’s maiden World Cup.
“Oh! we were a top side then. And the year 1978 is the best in Pakistan’s history. The Hockey World Cup, the Asian Games gold, the Champions Trophy and the test series against India. We won the grand slam,” Islahuddin told The Telegraph from his Karachi residence on Monday morning.
“Once we started training, the local media understood what we were made of. They started giving huge displays of our practice matches and Argentina’s football coach (Menotti) was highly impressed by what he saw.
“He came to our hotel and met the team manager (Abdul Waheed Khan), coach (Akhtar Hussain, who is an Olympic medal winner for both India and Pakistan) and myself. He was intrigued by how we attacked so well and yet hardly conceded any goals. I told him we play in a formation where there are five attackers and while moving forward, two more join. That meant we had seven in the opponents’ half and our rivals used to gasp for breath. For us, attack was the best way to defend”, Islahuddin, now 76, remembered fondly.
“We were told Menotti came to meet us on a private jet!” he added.
Within two months Menotti masterminded Argentina’s triumph, beating the Netherlands 3-1, and Passarella lifted the World Cup with the nation going crazy.
In his hour of glory, Menotti did not forget to pay tribute to the Pakistan hockey team. “Menotti said our style of hockey inspired him to build a champion team,” Islahuddin said with pride.
Interestingly, the Netherlands finished second to Pakistan in the Hockey World Cup final too.
“When their captain (Daniel Passarella) lifted the World Cup two months later, my heart was filled with pride. I was watching the match on television. Since that day I have been an Argentina fan. When (Lionel) Messi lifted the Cup in Doha, I celebrated like a kid,” the recipient of Nishan-e-Imtiaz, Pakistan’s highest civilian award, said.
Pakistan had scored a mindblowing 35 goals in that World Cup and were the first team to win the tournament twice. Islahuddin scored the only goal against Germany in the semi-final.
The World Cup triumph set the tempo for a memorable year for Pakistan hockey. “We beat India to win the Asiad gold in Bangkok, then beat India in the Test series and brought home the Champions Trophy.”
The Test series against India was a hit. “I never saw such crowds. The Indian fans clapped and gave us a standing ovation at the Wankhede Stadium in Bombay and Bangalore. That was despite the fact we won both the matches,” he said. The Wankhede match was etched in the memory of generations to come as Amol Palekar’s character Ramprasad Dashrathprasad Sharma in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s iconic Gol Maal wonders how strong Pakistan would be with Islahuddin and Samiullah in their team. “Yes, I know our names were spoken about in Gol Maal.”
